The Chronicles of the Caltamere Twins: The Prophecy

A Short Reunion Part II

After about half an hour of story-telling, Joan seemed to be out of words. Her face showed mixed emotions; bewilderment, betrayal, anguish and disbelief. I would be astonished if she doesn’t show any of these emotions. I’m quite trying to anticipate her reaction towards Henry but she seemed to be impasse about it. 

“I always knew there’s something going on with my brother,” she said. This is new. She never told me this. She turned to me and continued, “Can you still remember the night you rescued me from those pervs?”

“Very clearly, why?”

“Earlier that night, I found my brother consumed some papers,” she said. “I got worried because he doesn’t eat. He doesn’t rest. He was too quiet. He told me never to go into his office whatever the cause. But I couldn’t take it any longer. I have to know what’s causing him such misery. So one night, I sneaked into his office and found I’d found it as a mess. There were scrolls and scrolls of papers everywhere. His bookcase is disorganized and there was a bunch of stuff on his desk. Worse were drawings of symbols on the wall.”

“I investigated further. It was very curious that my brother who’s in the medical field had fancies in history. I looked into his paper and I couldn’t make anything out of them. They were written in some kind of ancient language.”

“I caught an old parchment tucked away under that rubble. I only had a glimpse of it until Henry came into his office. He was furious. He said I shouldn’t have seen those things. He also mentioned that ‘the two of you’ weren’t ready. I never understood the plurality. He began mumbling words I don’t recognize. I got scared and I ran away.”

“I don’t know where to go until something happened to me,” she almost said this in a whisper. I never heard this kind of story from her. It seemed she never had it in her memory. 

“What happened?” Alvin asked. All of us turned to look at him. I almost forgot Rick and Alvin were in the same room. 

“I felt like something erased a part of my memory. All I could remember was my name. I wander the streets for a few hours. I don’t know where to go or where I came from. It was weird. Until,” she glanced at me. “You saw me and saved me.”

“Wait a minute,” Rick interrupted. “You said you lost this part of your memory. How can you remember it now?”

All eyes turned to Joan. “That,” she started. “I cannot explain how. But I just remembered.”

“So, you believe me?” I asked.

“What’s not to believe?” she proclaimed. “I mean I got a piece of memory back that I couldn’t remember not having. Though it is strange and confusing, I know there’s an answer for all of this.” 

I was glad that this situation turned out to be the exact opposite of what I was expecting. Joan believed me. That’s something I appreciated. Though Alvin still looked sceptic, I know he’ll come around after some thought. Rick sat comfortably as he digested everything he heard. I wasn’t a bit worried about Rick. After all, he’s open to all possibilities. 

Just when I thought we’re going to have a quiet night, a crashing sound from the front jumped the soul out of us. Rick was quick on his feet and rushed to the sound. Alvin instinctively reached for Joan and pulled her behind him. I stayed put, bracing myself and worrying about Rick. 

We waited for something to happen but it seemed all became silent. 

“Rick?” I called. He came flying from the front door and landed on the stairs. A loud grunt came out from him as he staggered on the steps.

“Rick!” I cried. I immediately ran towards him. His shirt was scorched leaving a fist-sized hole in the middle, but his flesh is still whole. A broken wood stabbed through his arm. His blood oozed out, staining the floor, wreaking the air with rusty odour. 

  I gasped at the sight of it. His chest was rapidly rising and falling, catching his breath from the blow he had. I turned around to see who’s at our door and was able to do this to Rick. 

And I’d wished I hadn’t.

It was ashen black and moist as if it just came from a burning furnace. Its skin was burnt crisp. Its misty white eyes stared at me blankly as if it’s wondering my features. A hiss came out from its lipless mouth followed by a smoke. It showed its sharp teeth as it glowered at the sight of me. Beneath those shadows in its eyes, I saw the intent of murder. 

My insides flapped over as my heart pounded. Glued from where I stood, I began to sweat from fear. Its arms were so long that it reached the floor. Its massive hands had scythe-like fingers which were constantly grinding with each other producing swishing sounds. Its back was hunched low as the weight of its hands sagged it down making its knees bowed out. Its feet were wide and big as pedestals coated with black tar and white talons. 

It raised its arms and roared. I shook my head back to reality and immediately went to Rick. Instinctively, he reached for my arm and pulled himself up. The creature sucked in air deeply, its chest expanded so wide I thought it was about to pop. Then, to my stupor, it breathed greenish black fire. We dove to the side, barely dodging the range. My shirt caught fire but I put it away.

Alvin and Joan pulled us up and we ran to the kitchen. I closed the door shut and Alvin blocked it with the kitchen table. Rick, using his good arm, was pushing the plate cabinet. I helped him as we placed it in front of the table. We barricaded ourselves as the creature trashed the house and roared the place. 

“What the heck is that thing?!” Alvin exclaimed. He was again red as beetroot. 

“I have no idea,” I said. “I’m as clueless as you.”

“Won’t that be another assassin after us?” Joan asked. 

Now that she mentioned, maybe it was. I’m racking my head for any information Sharhea had slipped by earlier but she never said anything about this kind of creature. Only, they are after us. The question, again is, why?

Groaning from the corner, Rick tried to pull the splinter out. Joan rushed in to him.

“Hold still,” she said. She glanced at Alvin and said, “Al, I need your belt.”

Immediately, he took his belt off and tossed it to Joan. She wrapped the belt around Rick’s wounded arm just above the splinter. “I have to put pressure in this before pulling the wood out. This will cost so much pain and blood loss so you have to prepare.”

“I’m always re—ah!” Rick wasn’t able to finish his sentence when Joan pulled the wood out. He groaned as Joan ripped cloth from Rick’s shirt and wrapped it around his arm. 

“Don’t move it much and keep that belt for a while,” she said as she finished. 

The creature’s roar was getting louder and more furious than the last. It was getting annoyed that it couldn’t find its targets. Its footsteps went up, scouring the whole house for us. I’m guessing, since it has misty white eyes, it’s totally blind and only relies on other senses. I bet his sense of smell is greater than common.  

“We have to get out of here,” I declared. I look around for weapons to defend ourselves. I marched across the room and pulled two wooden mops from the closet. I smashed the heads off it against the sink. When it’s cleared, I pulled two kitchen knives from the drawer. Alvin approached me and snatched the other stick and knife from me. He got the picture and went to look for the duct tape.

“In that drawer under the cupboard,” I said. He found the duct tape. He placed the knife on the end of the stick and wrapped the tape around it, securing it tightly. He tossed the tape to me when he was done and I just repeated the procedure. We now have two makeshift spears. I just don’t know if these would work against that creature off. 

Just then, a loud bang from the kitchen door sprang us to alertness. We ran to each other facing the door. Alvin held the spear in front but found his grip a bit weak. I can’t blame him. He’s afraid but he can’t show it.

Rick took a cleaver from the drawer and waited for the attack. Joan wasn’t with us. I wandered my eyes and saw her by the door. I gestured to her to run towards us but she shook her head. Disbelief and annoyed, I waved at her again. She just raised her thumbs up to me. 

The door was blasted to splinters as the creature burst in, roaring and snarling. Acrid goo dripped down from its fangs, it shoved the cabinet out of its way and roared its frustration at us. Gripping the makeshift spear, I held my stance as I waited for the right moment to attack. Alvin slowly stepped back. He knew he had to leave this situation to us. Rick and I were trained to fight. But to fight a creature like this, I don’t know where to begin the attack. 

The creature started to breathe in again. Crap, it’s about to breathe fire. We can’t defend ourselves from fire. Standing there, waiting for the fire, Alvin threw the spear towards the creature. It just bounced back and made it even angrier. 

Holy s**t! Its skin is impenetrable! I thought. There was nothing we could do but run. Where? The only way out is the way we came in. We have to think something to get around that creature. He’s the only thing that blocks our way out. 

He stopped sucking air. This time, before he breathed fire, Joan stood in front of him. I cried her name, telling her to get out of the way. She was too close to the creature. But she wasn’t listening. Alvin ran towards her but Rick held him. 

“Let go of me!” he said. But Rick held his grip. He wasn’t letting him go. “Joan! Get out of the way!”

When the creature was about to breathe fire, Joan pulled out a fire extinguisher. She squeezed the trigger and out came cold carbon dioxide. The creature choked back his flames and stumbled down from the table. The pressure of the gas pushed him towards the corner, trashing and tossing as he tried to steady his orientation.

“Go!” Joan ordered. “The fire extinguisher is about to go out. Let’s go!”

We snapped back and ran towards the blasted door. We leaped over the barricade we made and ran. Joan let go of the extinguisher and ran after us. Hot air whooshed at us. The house was a mess. It was like a green inferno, trapped in one of the canto where flames burned down everything to ashes. Splintered wood, shredded sofa and broken glasses everywhere. The smoke hurt my lungs. It’s more than just ordinary smoke. I felt a squeezing pressure in my lungs. My head started to get dizzy. We have to get out of here. I thought.

I glanced back as I saw them doubling over, coughing. This is bad, I thought. We need fresh air, now! 

I nudged everyone and we ran out the front yard. We paused for a while to breathe in air. Still the pain in my lungs lingered, but it subsided as soon as it filled with fresh air. Whatever that smokes made out of, it’s definitely some kind of poison. We went straight to Alvin’s car. We hurried ourselves in, shouting at one another telling to get on, to hurry, and to start the car. But Alvin was panicking the most. He dropped his car keys as he was trying to put it in. He was shaking.

“Alvin! Hurry up!” Rick shouted.

“I’m on it! I’m on it!” Alvin shouted back.

Then something heavy landed on the car roof. Joan shrieked and held on to her seat. All of us froze, looking at each other as we listened to the object on top of us. There was a low choking growl vibrating above the car. I heard Alvin whimpered as he reached for the keys on the gas pedal. Slowly, he pushed the keys in and started the car.

When it roared to life, the object from the roof jumped over the hood. We all scream as we see yet another monster in front of us.

It was like a giant worm. It has eight pairs of tiny black eyes with sphincters snapping to each other making a clicking noise. Its worm-like body wriggled on the hood and produced an acrid smell of burning metal. It breathed out on the windshield resulting in misting half of it. Its round mouth has small sharp teeth around it. It pressed its mouth against the windshield and roared. We screamed at the same time. The creature pulled half its body up, readying itself to burst into the windshield. When it was about to charge, a blade came right through its body and the windshield. Joan pressed herself against the car door, shrieking as the blade was pulled out. 

The monster had little life on it. A pair of hands grappled the side of the monster and pulled it away from the hood. In front of us was mom with her blade painted with white goo.

She looked ragged. Her leather vest was torn from the shoulder up, blood stains on her face. She approached us limping, dagger hanging loose on her right hand. She went to the driver’s door, pulled it open and forced Alvin to sit at the backseat with us. 

“Mom!” I called.

She glanced at me and I never saw this kind of look on her face before. Troubled, exhausted, and nearly saw death, her eyes glistening from the refracted light. A shadow cast upon half of her features making her hard to read. Her lip was busted and a bluish black bruise painted her lower lip. She eyed the three of us then to Joan. With a quick look at the burning house, her brow creased and stepped on the gas.

“Mom!” I called again. “What happened?”

She kept her eyes on the road, driving insanely fast to somewhere. 

“Mom, where are we going?” I tried again. She was too quiet. Not a sound since she arrived, I anxiously glanced at Rick. He caught my eye and he, too, was worried. 

“A Lobuana and the Parasite,” my mom uttered after several miles of driving in silence. We all turn our attention to her. Joan being the nearest to mom, she immediately asked, “What are they? Why are they after us?”

Without taking her eyes off the road, she said, “I’m glad you’re awake, Joan. But I have to take all of you to a safe place first before we discuss things.”

“Are we going back to the Sanctum?” I asked.

“No,” mom’s tone was grim. “We were overwhelmed. And so we need to retreat.”

“Ms. Chase,” Alvin interrupted. “I—I don’t know how to start this, but—,”

“Save your arguments for later, Alvin. I know you’re a sceptic. I will not force you to believe everything because you’re not one of us. You and Rick shouldn’t be with us right now but circumstances forced me to change that.”

“What circumstances?” I asked.

“We need to get back,” mom hit the brakes. We stopped in another abandoned area in Redville. In front of us was an old rusty electric fence with a broken warning sign. It was torn off from the upper right corner down, big enough for a grown man to fit in.  Mom got out of the car and surveyed the area. We followed suit and stood behind her, waiting, anticipating what’s to come. She pulled a portion of the fence, wide enough for us to fit. She told us to get in. Reluctant, one by one we went.

At the other side of the fence was a vast open area covered with dried grass shadowed by the night’s light. Beyond the skyline, two figures stood by waiting. I recognized them as Henry and Sharhea, standing tall yet hiding their exhaustion from battle.

We approached them. The sight of them was worse than mom’s. Henry has blood and gore everywhere. I unconsciously covered my mouth as the stench tickled my nose. Sharhea nearly had her left leg torn away. Blacked with bruises and blood, she stood as if nothing had happened.

“I didn’t know we had company,” Sharhea said in a low voice. She gestured at Rick and Alvin. Practically, they shouldn’t be involved in this, but they somehow are.

“I’m sorry,” mom replied. “A situation had made me do this.”

“What situation?”

“A Lobuana and the Parasite,” mom said. Instantly, the look on Henry’s and Sharhea’s faces buried back to the shadows of their eyes. A wrinkle of disgust and hatred burn within their cheekbones as their jaw clenched. Sharhea looked up, somehow trying to be composed and relaxed but she was having a hard time to do so. 

“That’s not good news, then,” it was all Sharhea could utter after that. Frustrated from ignorance, I stepped up to them. They all turn their attention to me, waiting for my say.

“Why are they after us?” I asked. I stared them down, demanding an answer. I’m not taking nothing for an answer and definitely not a riddle!

They shared uneasy glances to each other, like having a silent conversation among them. Eyeing each other, Sharhea exasperated a sigh.

“Not so patient, are you?” she said. “Well, if you insist on knowing, might as well give you the benefit of it.” She seemed bitter and annoyed. I didn’t quite understand her tone. 

“The two of you,” she began. “Are people with high import. You two, are the people who will attain great glory for the betterment of the world, or best yet for the salvation of all worlds.”

“Ho--,”

“We have no time for that discussion, for now. We have to leave. If a Lobuana and the Parasite are after you, the sooner we’re away the better,” Sharhea said sounding worried and quite terrified.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“We’re going back home,” Sharhea seemed amused and yet beyond that smile, she’s dreading, covertly fearing the monsters mom had mentioned.

“Why? What are those monsters?” Joan asked. 

“A Lobuana, is blind but has a strong sense of smell. He has the strength of an elephant and a fire of a dragon. He’s a creation from Earth and Fire. He can get as nasty as you can imagine just to finish off his job.” Mom said. 

“So any minute, he’ll come after us. He’s the best tracker after all.” Henry added.

“The Parasite, on the other hand, it is as nasty as its name implied. Its teeth can grind a bone to pulp but what’s worse is his ability to sprout acid from its skin, melting any kind of material that contracts it.”

“Right,” Sharhea clapped her hands and waved at Henry. “The formation, please!”

Henry went to work. He opened his knapsack and brought out several parchments and stones. He placed four parchments opposite and across one another completing the four cardinal points. Each parchment was a single character different from one another. The characters were rounded and yet with fluid strokes of corners, they look very ancient and foreign. But I guess they’re directions. He then placed three stones between each parchment. Same as it, the stones also have characters carved on it. They’re different from the characters on the parchment. The stones had stick figured alphabets. When Henry was done, he had made a circle with the parchments pointing at North, South, East and West.

As if with an activation button, Henry reached for each parchment and tapped them lightly on the middle. He did this clockwise seven times. After that, he approached the parchment near us and started chanting in a different tongue.

Slowly, the path he made when tapping the parchment, emerged a white silver spectrum of light circling to where Henry had walked around it. The ground shook as he continued chanting. Few moments later, the white silver spectrum grew and grew and wooshed around the circular path.

It then burst to sky high, igniting luminous light blinding my vision. Gust of warm air fanned out from the cylindrical beam. It grew higher and higher, spectrums of this white light zoomed up and down the beam. It’s so bright that it sends out a beacon to where we are.

I felt dread building up from my gut. This beam of light, I sense a vibrating energy radiating from it. It’s powerful and wild. Over the roaring surge of energy, mom turned to us, hair bowing towards her face, she exclaimed, “Jenny! Take Joan and walk in!”

“What?” I shouted back. “Why?”

“This is a portal!”Sharhea instructed. “It will take you to Alda!”

Just when I was about to ask something, a deafening roar made us all jump to the south. Its cracking, snarling roar stunned me. In the wild, the predator roars to instil fear into its prey. We’re the prey, and that roar is carved in fear.

“They’re coming,” Henry panted. I glanced back at him and noticed his knees wobbling. The portal took a toll from him making him exhausted. Draining his energy, I look at Sharhea with concern. She too noticed it but then the roar grew louder. There was another creature added to the picture. 

Then another.

And another.

Until several crouched creatures surrounded us, Henry fell to his knees and immediately, the portal vanished in a zap. A burst of energy swept me off of my feet and in that moment, the Lobuanas attacked.